Aluminum used to be so hard to process that if was seen as a status of the most wealthy. Napoleon would present his most honored guest with plate made from Aluminum and his less honorable guests with plates made from Gold
by Mokiesbie
Aluminum used to be so hard to process that if was seen as a status of the most wealthy. Napoleon would present his most honored guest with plate made from Aluminum and his less honorable guests with plates made from Gold
by Mokiesbie
12 Comments
Wierd Al: I can make something with this….
Damn.
Imagine being gifted something made of Aluminum the day before the value crashed down.
Feels bad man.
Aluminum: Underrated miracle metal, cheap to make, can be shaped into many things, lightweight, and non toxic! It’s like what people back then think lead is, but also much cheaper to buy 🔥
Napoleon III, that is.
Napoleon I could not have had a plate of aluminium made for any price. The first isolation of aluminium that didn’t immediately burn happened in 1825.
It’s spelled Paul **Héroult** btw.
That’s why the Washington monument is still capped in aluminum.
Bitcoin vs Pizza energy on the plates
It also capped the Washington monument with a 6 pound aluminum pyramid. We used to stan over aluminum. I still kinda do.
How did they do it
Aluminium
Imagine conspiracy nuts bankrupting themselves making aluminum foils at those prices.
For Aluminum to exist naturally on it’s own is very rare. Aluminum atoms are stupidly reactive, meaning it gives away electrons and will bind to a lot of other atoms.
When it binds with Oxygen it forms Aluminum Oxide (alumina), which naturally exists in bauxite (a kind of dirt), but has to be refined then exposed to both extreme heat and blasted with electricity, allowing the pure metal to settle on it’s own.
This process would be stupidly hard to recreate in nature by itself, and it wasnt until the 1880’s that the refinement process was even perfected, hence why it was so rare, and why AL recycling is a thing.